


Hope and Ekkreth

by PhenomenalWoman



Series: Tann Skywalker [1]
Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Amatakka, Anakin Skywalker Needs a Hug, Anakin Skywalker is good with kids, Gen, Past Slavery, Slave Chips, Tatooine Slave Culture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:54:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26337538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhenomenalWoman/pseuds/PhenomenalWoman
Summary: AKA how Anakin may not have been able to free the slaves on Tatooine, but he could do this. He could do this. Now with an unexpected second chapter!!~“Let me try,” General Skywalker slowly took the place of the frustrated shiny that was having a go at coaxing the young Twi'lek out.His General has never been a patient man, Rex thought absently as he prepared himself for the Jedi to call it quits and pass off extraction duty to some poor shiny.A sharp sound shook Rex out of his thoughts. He focused on his General, who’s face softened despite the red flush creeping up his cheeks. He was speaking to the girl, Rex realized, in a language he had never heard before.Anakin slowly brought the hand that was still resting inside the cave up and tapped his own chest twice.“Skywalker,” Was all he said.Any other time, Rex or Obi-Wan would give him a hard time about thinking he was so important that just his name would be enough to get this little girl out of the cave, but something was different. Something in the way that he said it, like it was a title more so than his last name, and in the way that the little girl gasped sharply from inside the cave.
Relationships: Implied Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker
Series: Tann Skywalker [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1960348
Comments: 69
Kudos: 1291





	1. Chapter 1

Rex should have known something was up after seeing his General with that little Twi’lek girl, and he kicks himself now thinking about how he thought it was just  _ jetti _ voodoo. 

The raid on a Separatist droid factory on some planet so deep in the Mid Rim that it was basically an Outer Rim planet was going well except for one unforeseen complication: Slaves. 

Those Separatist  _ scum _ were using slaves as human shields and hostages, and Rex would have been nervous had it not been for the way his General started taking down Seppies with an extreme type of prejudice that was definitely frowned upon by other  _ jetti. _

But it got the job done, because in near record time, the factory was safe in the hands of the Republic. All that was left to do now was get the slaves that were lucky enough to hide themselves in whatever crevice they could find out and to safety. 

Almost all of them were in the safe hands of the 501st and 212th medics, save a few that were still being coaxed out by various troopers. However, there was one little Twi’lek girl that stoutly refused to come out for anything. They tried Basic, Ryl, and even Huttese, but the little girl didn’t respond to anything. 

“Let me try,” General Skywalker slowly took the place of the frustrated shiny that was having a go at coaxing her out. 

Anakin sat down with little regard to the dust and dirt that would surely coat his pants and ducked his head down to see where the little girl had wedged herself in a carved out hole in the wall, nearly imperceptible.

Rex watched as his General held his hand out, far enough away that the little girl wouldn’t be able to snap at him with her sharp fangs, a lesson the other troopers learned the hard way, and wriggled his fingers aimlessly. 

Anakin didn’t say anything for a while, only staring at the girl with a furrowed brow, an expression that the girl readily returned. 

His General has never been a patient man, Rex thought absently as he prepared himself for the Jedi to call it quits and pass off extraction duty to some poor shiny. Rex frowned; not even Waxer could get the girl out, and Waxer was practically known amongst the Vode for being unnaturally good with kids.

A sharp sound shook Rex out of his thoughts. He focused on his General, who’s face softened despite the red flush creeping up his cheeks. He was  _ speaking _ to the girl, Rex realized, in a language he had never heard before. 

The girl said something in response in that same harsh, clicking language and whatever she said made his General’s lips quirk up. 

They spoke for some time in the strange language that no trooper knew, not even Obi-Wan, and every time the girl would inch closer to the mouth of the hole in the wall, a trooper would breathe a silent sigh of relief.

Finally, Anakin slowly brought the hand that was still resting inside the cave up and tapped his own chest twice.

“Skywalker,” Was all he said. 

Any other time, Rex or Obi-Wan would give him a hard time about thinking he was so important that just his  _ name _ would be enough to get this little girl out of the cave, but something was different. Something in the way that he said it, like it was a title more so than his last name, and in the way that the little girl gasped sharply from inside the cave. 

“Sky-walker?” The girl repeated, and fast as a speeder her hand shot out to grasp Anakin’s and yank it into the cave. 

Rex jolted at the sudden move, instinct and years of battle training him to pull out his blaster at the slightest threat, but his General only had to shoot him a hard look over his shoulder to stop him in his tracks.

_ “Ekkreth?” _ The little girl whispered from the cave, drawing Anakin’s attention back to her.

Anakin’s mouth opened like he wanted to say something but nothing would come out. Finally, he nodded in a jerky way you only saw from shell-shocked shinies coming back from battle.  _ “Ekkreth,” _ He echoed in confirmation.

The little Twi’lek barreled out of the cave and  _ threw _ herself into Anakin’s arms. Her little purple hands gently pressed against the star-struck Jedi’s cheeks as she searched his face for  _ something. _

Now that she was out of the cave, Rex got a good look at her. Her clothes, if you could call them that, hung off of her in tatters. Her hands that rested on his General’s cheeks were caked in dirt and were sure to leave smears on his skin. She was skinny enough that Rex could see her ribs trying to press through her skin from a rip in her baggy shirt.

One of her hands slid off Skywalker’s cheeks to yank at his sleeve. Once. Twice. A third time until Anakin finally got the hint. 

Rex spared a glance at General Kenobi, who looked just as mystified. 

Anakin let the little girl lean against his chest as he pushed the sleeve up on his flesh arm while she watched, and when the fabric got high enough the girl grabbed at his arm with unshy hands and twisted it this way and that until-

The little girl made a soft cooing sound and her little nubby lekku twitched as her equally little hands reverently traced one of the many scars on General Skywalker’s arms. This one was on his upper forearm and was honestly unassuming, most likely one that came from his many years on the front lines. A scar so unimportant that no one ever thought to ask about it when they all sat around a fire and traded stories. 

However, the little girl seemed to think differently. She ran a single finger over it one more time before finally looking back up at Anakin.

_ “Ekkreth?” _ She repeated one more time, and Rex realized with a sick feeling that she was about to  _ cry. _

Anakin nodded once, his bare arm wrapping around her slight frame as she began to shake, and that was all it took for her to bury her face in the crook of his neck and  _ sob. _

Instantly, the General enveloped his body around her as if to shield her in her moment of vulnerability. Her slight frame almost disappeared underneath his numerous layers of clothes, only the barest hints of purple visible beneath various folds of fabric.

Rex turned his gaze to the crowd that had formed, “Let’s clear out, men,” He ordered softly, and only glanced over his shoulder once before following the trail of soldiers leaving the area. 

~

Obi-Wan fell into step easily with Anakin as he carried the little girl,  _ Tann  _ Anakin had said her name was, to where the medics had set up camp. 

Tann, while content to leave her face buried in Anakin’s shoulder, would occasionally look up at Obi-Wan before burrowing deeper into his former padawan like she was trying to absorb into him. 

“You weren’t speaking to her in Ryl,” Obi-Wan noted as they approached Kix’s station.

Anakin didn’t so much as look at him before prying Tann off of him to set her down on the cot, “No, it wasn’t.” 

“Generals,” Kix greeted before Obi-Wan could say anything else, “Another chip removal?” The medic seemed slightly disheveled, probably from the countless identical procedures he was overseeing. His hands moved on autopilot to grab the usual sedatives before Anakin stopped him.

“No anesthetics,” Anakin shook his head but didn’t take his eyes off the little girl who seemed to be trying to disappear into herself under the scrutiny of so many new people. He reached out with a hand that Tann instantly latched onto, “Just numb it, Kix.”

“Sir?” 

Even Obi-Wan frowned, fully prepared to pull rank. She was much too young to see someone cutting into her, even if she wouldn’t feel anything. What was Anakin thinking?”

“She needs to see it.” The whispered words barely carried over the sounds of chatter in from the other patients and various troopers in the medic’s station. 

Kix’s eyes flickered between his General and the little girl who was cradling his hand to her chest with her eyes clenched tight before doing as he said. 

As Kix prepared the area with the numbing cream and grabbed a scalpel from a nearby tray, Anakin gently tapped the girl with his free hand on her forehead. 

Tann’s eyes slid open, and a moment passed where all time stood still and the only movement was the silent conversation that she was having with Anakin, both of them giving meaningful looks that only they could understand. 

Finally, Anakin sat next to her and pulled her into her lap. One of his hands reached out and grasped her right hand and outstretched her arm towards the clone medic. 

“Alright, Kix,” He nodded up at the medic who, to his credit, only hesitated a little bit before making an incision he’d made nearly a hundred times that day. 

Tann stared with a wide, unwavering gaze as blood welled up and was quickly cleared away with a single swipe of a bandage. Her breathing remained the same throughout the entire, extremely quick procedure, and it wasn’t until Kix finished the last of her stitches that she released a shuddering breath. 

Anakin reached over and took, with deft fingers, the neutralized slave chip that was in Tann’s arm not three minutes ago. He wordlessly offered it out to Tann, who took it with shaky fingers and stared down at it. 

Tann, with one hand holding the transmitter like it could still blow at any second, reached over to Anakin and placed an impossibly small hand on the same spot that she traced when she pulled Anakin’s sleeve up to look at his scars. She looked up at Anakin, who nodded reassuringly at her. 

_ Oh. _

Obi-Wan felt his gut twist as he finally realized what was happening. 

This wasn’t Anakin The Jedi reassuring the little slave girl he just helped free. This was Anakin From Tatooine, who worked at a junk shop and carried his own personal bomb everywhere he went, letting Tann know that she was  _ free. _

The small, unassuming chip that likely haunted this girl’s every move tumbled from her fingers and fell to the dirty floor in her haste to wrap her scrawny arms around Anakin’s neck and burrow herself into him again.

Obi-Wan met Kix’s misty gaze and nodded once in thanks before leaving to give Anakin and his new shadow their privacy.

~

The next time anyone saw Anakin was back on the ship. After missions like these it was almost guaranteed that Anakin Skywalker would spend the rest of the trip  _ attempting _ to meditate whatever un-Jedi like feelings that followed him. (Or breaking shit in his private quarters.)

However, Obi-Wan found his former padawan sitting cross legged on the ground in the mess hall with a lapful of Twi’lek, who in turn had a lapful of food. 

A broad smile was stretched across the young man’s face as he gave Tann broken off chunks of bread, careful not to feed her too much new and unfamiliar food so it wouldn’t make her sick. Anakin had learned that lesson the hard way when he first arrived at the Jedi Temple all those years ago. 

“Tann,” Anakin shifted her slightly so that she would look up and see Obi-Wan, “This is my friend, Obi-Wan,” He looked glanced up at his old Master with sparkling eyes and a broad smile.

Tann shifted bashfully in his lap, her hands tightening on the bread as if to make sure Obi-Wan wouldn’t get any ideas about taking it, “Hi,” She whispered, cheeks flushing dark and immediately burying her face in Anakin’s chest. 

“Hello, Tann,” Obi-Wan said softly, coming closer and sitting on a nearby bench, “It’s very nice to meet you.” 

~

Life went, relatively, back to normal after that. The newly freed slaves were helped acclimate to free life and given accommodations by Chancellor Palpatine, who made sure to make a big spectacle of it. 

Obi-Wan didn’t think much more about the little Twi’lek girl named Tann that had latched onto Anakin. Except of course, when he saw her in the Senate building, trailing after Senator Amidala, looking significantly more well fed and better dressed. 

And if Obi-Wan noticed how Anakin would disappear for hours on end when they were on leave just to come back, feeling happier and more at peace with himself than he had in years, then he didn’t say anything.

Obi-Wan also didn’t say anything when he noticed a little smudge of red lipstick at the corner of Anakin’s mouth, or when the wall of children’s drawings featuring a small purple blob, a tall blonde blob, and a brunette curly blob above Anakin’s bed would have new additions almost every time Anakin came back from his hour-long disappearances. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AKA how Padmé was introduced to Tann, and how they're family became just a little bit bigger.
> 
> ~
> 
> Padmé Amidala prided herself on being prepared for everything. One doesn’t survive as a child queen, turned Senator with a Gungan representative that’s notorious for creating trouble without having back up plans. 
> 
> That being said, it’s still quite a shock when her secret husband, Anakin Skywalker, showed up at her door in his thick Jedi robe in the middle of the night.

Padmé Amidala prided herself on being prepared for everything. One doesn’t survive as a child queen, turned Senator with a Gungan representative that’s notorious for creating trouble without having back up plans. 

That being said, it’s still quite a shock when her secret husband, Anakin Skywalker, showed up at her door in his thick Jedi robe in the middle of the night. 

Padmé smiled coyly, subtly pushing the V of her silk robe a little further apart. The two of them had played these  _ games _ before, with Anakin appearing at her door in his dark robes and talking in the rough way that never failed to make Padmé flush. “Knight Skywalker,” She greeted lowly, batting her eyelashes at him, “What a sur-”

“Oh, Angel,” Anakin pressed a chaste kiss to her forehead before sweeping past her, “You know any other night I would  _ love _ to play that game, but that’s not what I’m here for,” He pushed the thick hood down and suddenly faltered, looking completely out of place in Padmé’s living space. 

Padmé frowned, “Ani, what’s wrong? Has something happened at the Temple?” 

Anakin shook his head quickly, “No, nothing’s wrong. Well- no. No, I just…” He released a gust of air and clenched his eyes shut. “Angel,” He reached out with his left hand and cupped her cheek, and Padmé instinctively pressed into the feeling of the familiar leather glove, “Do you trust me?” 

“Of course.” 

Her husband nodded and leaned forward to press one more kiss to her forehead, “Okay. Okay, good. Uhm,” The hand that had once cupped her cheek moved to the opening of his robe, which now that Padmé had a chance to look at it, looked suspiciously bulky. “Don’t freak out, okay?” 

“Ani-”

Anakin pulled the opening of his robe back and Padmé cursed and immediately pulled her own robe tighter to preserve some modesty. 

“Padmé, this is Tann.” 

The purple Twi’lek girl was fast asleep, her hands, relatively clean but with deep set dirt under her nails and in her cuticles, clutching tight to numerous fabrics of Anakin’s Jedi clothes. Her right forearm was wrapped in a bandage, but she was otherwise unharmed save for whatever stray bruise Padmé could spot on her skin. 

“ _ Ani,” _ Padmé stepped closer, hands reaching out towards the little girl but not touching, “Where did you find her?” 

Her husband shifted the girl’s weight towards his side closest to Padmé to give her a better view, but she noticed his own soft gaze never strayed from the sleeping girl’s face, “The Separatist droid factory Obi-Wan and I were to dismantle had slaves,” Unadulterated fury crept through Anakin’s quiet tone, “Some of them were smart enough to hide wherever they could. This little one was causing quite the problem for my men, completely refused to come out of the hole she crammed herself into.” The wrinkle between his eyebrows smoothed out as his flesh thumb stroked along Tann’s arm.

“How did they get her out?” Padmé brought one hand up to rest on Anakin’s shoulder, and her other hand slowly reached out to brush along Tann’s temple. 

The little girl snuffled and turned her face deeper into Anakin’s chest. 

Anakin pulled his gaze off her sleeping form and turned to his wife, who looked just as enamoured as he did. “I just talked to her,” He shrugged bashfully.

Padmé narrowed her eyes at her husband. Her gaze flicked from his rosy cheeks, not from the cold outside, and to the way his gloved hand fiddled with her little purple toes. She finally hummed in acceptance and turned back to the sleeping child. 

He would tell her when he was ready.

“I’ll have Threepio prepare a room for her then,” Padmé spoke into the silence, enraptured with the way that Tann’s little hands pulled on Anakin’s clothes and how her nubby lekku twitched. 

“Thank you, Angel,” Anakin whispered as he brushed a thumb across a too-gaunt purple cheek. 

Padmé felt her lips tug into a smile at the sight of her husband. He looked as though he was holding the world in his hands, and he would sooner die than drop it. 

Padmé had a very good feeling about this.

~

Her good feeling lasted well into the morning, when she woke up with strong arms wrapped around her waist and metal fingers, capable of such destruction, tracing soft patterns into her stomach. 

“Morning, Angel,” Her husband’s voice, rough with sleep, warmed her body in ways that the sunlight creeping into her room could never. 

Padmé hummed and turned in his embrace to burrow her face into his bare chest. One hand crept down to trace along the hard ridge of his abdomen, tracing along the muscle that was built and defined by years of training with a delicate nail. She couldn’t contain her giggle at how his skin jumped underneath her touch. 

“Don’t start something you don’t intend to fini-” Anakin stiffened before he could finish his sentence, jerking up into a sitting position.

“Ani?” 

_ “Kriff!” _ Anakin stumbled out of the bed, snagging a robe draped across a chair in his haste to leave the room. 

Padmé jolted into action. She tugged her nightgown into a more presentable fashion and grabbed a second robe, one much larger, from the corner of her dresser. She slid it over her shoulders and giggled at the way it engulfed her. 

In his hurry to leave the room, Anakin had taken her much smaller, much pinker robe. 

It wasn’t hard to guess where her husband would be. Even if she couldn’t hear the gasping sobs, she knew without a shadow of a doubt that he would be with Tann. 

“I know,” Anakin whispered into the little girl’s temple, arms wrapped tight around her, “I know, it was just a bad dream. You’re safe now, I’m sorry I wasn’t there.” 

Tann seemed to be doing her very best to try and disappear into his ( _ Padmé’s) _ robe, which he was already having a hard enough time fitting into. Her body trembled with great heaving sobs, and her fingers scrambled to find purchase on the silky texture of the robe.

Anakin switched from speaking to her in Basic and in another language Padmé has never heard before, full of clicks and harsh syllables. Whatever it was that he was saying to her seemed to have some effect, as did his strong hand that stroked along the girl’s bony back. 

Padmé didn’t even want to blink, couldn’t  _ bear _ to take her eyes off the beautiful sight in front of her. 

“Tann,” Anakin spoke lowly and shifted so that Padmé would be in the Twi’lek’s line of sight, “I’d like to introduce you to another friend of mine. She’s a very good friend, and her name is Padmé,” 

Padmé stepped closer, her softest most genuine smile usually reserved for family painted across her face. “Hi, Tann,” She wriggled her fingers in a wave that had the girl giggling. Padmé stepped closer still, “I’ve been very excited to meet you. Anakin has told me so much about you.” 

Anakin sat down on the bed, whose sheets were askew and even in some places ripped, and Padmé sat down beside him. Tann peered at Padmé with wide eyes, and one slightly shaky hand reached out to stroke at the wild curls that framed her face.

“Pretty,” Tann mumbled into Anakin’s shoulder.

Padmé smiled even broader and slowly so as not to startle her, brought a hand up to hold the one that was beginning to tangle in her hair, “Thank you, Tann. I think you’re exceptionally pretty as well,” 

Tann’s thin cheeks flushed dark and she buried her face in Anakin’s neck.

Anakin’s eyes shone bright with tears, and whatever hesitations, however little they may be, vanished. Whatever Anakin wanted her to do, whatever Tann  _ needed  _ from her, Padmé would do it. Would do it with a smile and would never think twice. 

~

It wasn’t easy by no means. Anakin couldn’t be there with her the whole time, but thankfully her handmaidens were. Each and every one of them had taken a shining to the little girl, who thrived in the attention. 

But, there would be nights where Tann would wake up in tears and lash out in her sleep-addled haze. And when she finally came to and realized just  _ who _ she lashed out at she would burst into tears and burrow into the covers and become a shaking lump. 

Padmé did what she could. She would hug and whisper assurances, not that it was some great burden, and wordlessly slide into the covers when Tann would hide herself in them. She wouldn’t say anything, or try to touch, and when Tann felt she was ready she would inch her way up towards the top and tangle her fingers into Padmé’s curly hair, although she was careful to never pull too harshly. 

Padmé followed Anakin’s instructions to not feed Tann  _ too _ much. Her stomach, so used to just barely getting by on whatever meals she could find wouldn’t be able to handle too much of the rich flavor that Padmé was so used to eating. It wasn’t until Tann’s stomach started to adjust and she was comfortable eating more and more that she began to gain weight. 

Two months into Tann’s stay with Padmé, she decided to bring the girl with her to the Senate. Sabé would be nearby in case Tann wanted to go back to Padmé’s quarters at any time throughout the day. The Holonet had a field day with images of Senator Amidala delivering an empowering speech on finally cracking down on the slave trade in the Mid and Outer Rims all while propping a sleeping child up on her hip. 

That of course, was the day that one Master Obi-Wan Kenobi made an appearance at the Senate.

Padmé, hand in hand with Tann, walked briskly past the Jedi Master with a polite, “Master Kenobi,” and Obi-Wan responded in turn. 

“Hullo, Obi,” Tann grumbled while she wiped sleep from her eyes with her free hand. She remembered him, with his nice voice and strange facial hair.

It was with great amusement that Padmé watched the renowned Master falter and stare at the little girl he probably didn’t think much more about since the day they rescued her. 

Life was beautiful, Padmé realized one night. She sat on the couch, content to watch Anakin use the Force to make Tann’s dolls hop around the little girl, complete with ridiculous sound effects, much to Tann’s delight. 

One hand drifted down to her still-flat stomach. She still had some time before she started showing, but Padmé found it quite relaxing to rest her hand there. 

It was funny, Padmé thought as she watched the sight before her, that there was a time she would have been nervous to tell Anakin that she was pregnant. But she knew better now. Anakin did so well with their first child that one (or two) more would be a piece of cake. 

_ “Daddy!” _ Tann’s squeal of glee tore Padmé from her musings. 

Anakin had Tann wrapped tight in a hug, and had been pressing sloppy kisses to her cheeks and forehead and lekku before he froze at Tann’s cry. 

Tears welled up in his eyes faster than Padmé would have thought, and he wiped furiously at his face before they could fall. 

Padmé slid gracefully off the couch and settled next to the two of them, and Tann quickly clambered into her lap, “Your daddy is a very silly man,” She whispered to Tann, who squealed and wriggled in her lap.

“Silly Daddy!” Tann agreed, clapping her hands in delight, “Mommy, make Daddy stop cryin’!”

_ Oh. _

Padmé felt her eyes get misty rather quickly. Maybe Anakin wasn’t being so silly after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Tann - a Twi'lek name meaning Hope
> 
> Ekkreth - The Trickster, The Skywalker, The Slave who makes Free
> 
> ~
> 
> All mistakes are my own! I made this at like 4 in the morning just to satisfy a brain itch that wouldn't leave me alone. Comments are always appreciated! Love you all and thank you for reading!


End file.
